ALBERTO CHICOTE

I entered the world of cuisine when I was 18 years old.

Once I had finished BUP (Secondary school education) I realised that it wasn’t for me, so I entered the Hotel Business School in the Casa de Campo in Madrid.

They were not easy beginnings as I had to combine studies with practical training every morning and every weekend for three years, taking advantage of holiday periods to work in places where I knew there would be something interesting to learn. Thus I had the good fortune to be able to learn from Luis Irizar in the HOTEL ALCALA, Ange García in LUCULO, Ignacio Muguruza in MAR DE ALBORAN, Toñi Vicente in SIBARIS, Belén Laguía in LA RECOLETA and other great masters of cuisine.

Once I had finished my studies, I decided to leave Spain and I spent a year in Switzerland, the cradle and forerunner of Central European cuisine, where I was taught by Robert Sigrist in the HOTEL KREUZ and Daniel Shafer in ZUR TAUBE.

I then returned to Madrid where I spent a year working with Miguel López Castañier in LA TABERNA DE LIRIA and another year with Salvador Gallego in EL CENADOR DE SALVADOR.

After all this running around, where there was no lack of gastronomic work in and outside of Spain, I decided that it was a good time to start running a kitchen, so I then enjoyed three and a half years working in a small Madrid restaurant called EL CENACHERO. I devoted myself to updating the best part of the classic cuisine repertoire of which I already had a thorough knowledge. I had excellent results and it was an unforgettable experience.

It was at that time that one of the great entrepreneurs of the Madrid hotel business came to me with an idea that I had been toying with for some time – to blend Mediterranean and Oriental cuisine, mainly Japanese. I could not refuse and so we opened NODO. The road has not been an easy one as it has meant a great effort in learning and restructuring major concepts but the undoubted success of this new trend, not fashion, spurs us on and encourages us to continue investigating and evolving a type of cuisine which still has a lot to be discovered and many more surprises.

The latest project that I have become involved with, along with two great professionals and friends – Pedro Olmedo, Chef of the HOTEL SANTO MAURO and Stephan Oeller, president of the NORAK business group, is the creation of a service portal and gastronomic consultancy in Internet under the name of www.rescoweb.com with the aim of easing the work of thousands of hotel business professionals.